1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a motor vehicle comprising at least one displaceable roof section, which when closed abuts a windshield frame at the front of the vehicle and whose lateral outer areas respectively abut a support, with the supports being at least partly relocatable in lateral columns of the windshield frame to form an open roof section.
2. Description of the Related Art
DE 202 01 411 UI discloses a motor vehicle of this type, which can be developed as a convertible or a Targa vehicle, for example. With said motor vehicle, the supports, which can be relocated in the lateral columns of the windshield frame, offer a stable support for at least one displaceable roof section when the motor vehicle is closed. When the top is open after the roof section was removed either manually or stored in the rear area of the vehicle by a joint mechanism, said supports reinforce the lateral columns of the windshield frame, thus offering increased protection to the passengers when the windshield frame is bearing the load of the vehicle, as can be the case in a rollover.
With said vehicle, there is room for improvement in the guidance system of the supports when they move between a first end position in a state when they are recessed in the lateral column of the windshield frame, and a second end position at a rear roof section when the roof of the motor vehicle is closed. For one, the proposed development of the A-columns of the windshield frame having a receiving channel with dimensions which essentially correspond exactly to the cross-orientation of the supports bears the risk of a so-called “drawer effect”, i.e., a tilting of the supports on both sides when they are displaced between two end positions, and on the other hand, the stability of the roof frame construction is limited here with lateral supports abutting the rear roof section, as proposed.
Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention with a motor vehicle of the type described above is to provide an improved mechanism for the displacement of the lateral supports between their end positions with respect to protection against jamming and stability of the roof section.